


The Amity Park Haunting: A Grave Affair Part 1

by writting_mistakes



Series: The Amity Park Haunting [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Multi, Strong Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23427085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writting_mistakes/pseuds/writting_mistakes
Summary: The town of Amity Park is under attack by ghosts, but everyone knows that by now. For dozens of years, Amity Park citizens cowered away in their homes, hoping that they wouldn’t get haunted, until a hero rose up to fight against the ghosts, a hero by the name of Jason Baxter. As things begin to die down and the town returns to normal, Jason is suddenly murdered by a mystery ghost. Now, the torch has been passed on to his irresponsible, and newly orphaned son, Dash....Dash Baxter, son of the legendary Ghost Slayer, Jason Baxter, is thrust into the world of ghost hunting when he is officially coined Amity Park’s first future hero. On the other side of the coin, Danny Fenton, who’s entire world has revolved around ghost hunting since he was a kid, has to cope with the repercussions of a freak lab accident. Things only get worse for the both of them when Dash has to move in with the Fenton family to train for his new responsibility to society.
Relationships: Danny Fenton/Sam Manson, Dash Baxter/Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley/Sam Manson
Series: The Amity Park Haunting [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685203
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	1. A Fallen Hero

**Author's Note:**

> Ah! 200 kudos! Thank you guys so much!

I stand around a coffin smashed between my mother and older sister, listening to the mayor give a eulogy for the former hero, Jason Baxter. Behind me, I can hear sniffling sounds and look up to see my father towering over me with tears dripping down his cheeks as he quietly sobs while my mother stands beside me clasping my arm, trying to prevent the tears from escaping her eyes, though they escape anyways, leaving trails of water down her cheeks. My sister stands strong on my opposite side, though it still seems to effect her as much as it does my parents, if her knitted eyebrows and clenched fists are any indication.

Me on the other hand, I can’t quite explain why I don’t feel the sadness that everyone around me does. The pillar of our community... Amity Park’s protector... the Ghost Slayer... he’s gone now. My parent’s partner... the man who ate dinner with us on Saturday nights... my old friend’s father... he’s never coming back. And yet I can’t feel anything. My gaze floats over the crowd, settling on the tall blonde haired boy who stands mere feet from the coffin, his father’s body just inside the closed lid. Looking at his red puffy eyes, messy hair, and clasped hands, I feel my heart throb in my chest, an overwhelming sense of sympathy overcoming me.

Dash turns away, a new line of tear streaming down his face, when his eyes settle on our group, scanning the four of us before his eyes land on me, staring at me with a look I’ve never seen him wear before. His glassy eyes gaze into my own, confusion and heartbreak covering his expression as he slowly turns away from me and turns his gaze towards the ground, not looking up for the rest of the ceremony.

Mayor Montez wraps up his eulogy, which I completely tuned out, though I assume it talked about how Jason was a hero and he died a brave death protecting the city. That he will be dearly missed and the community will not be the same without him. That he is thankful for his service to the town. Hollow words from a man who saw Jason as a pillar of peace before a human being. After they’ve lowered the coffin into the ground and covered it with dirt, Dash steps forward, placing a small key chain on the dirt in front of the tombstone. As he drops it, I notice the bottom of it has a decorative X on it, the same one as the symbol his father wore when fighting ghosts, and can’t help but wonder what the story behind it is, though I seriously doubt that Dash will ever tell me.

After the ceremony ends, most people file out of the cemetery, but Mayor Montez stays to talk with Dash, while my parents settle in front of the grave to leave flowers and mementos for their old partner. “Danny.” Jazz tugs on my sleeve. “I’m gonna head to the car.” She doesn’t look at me as she speaks, instead staring after our parents, who grip each other in a tight embrace as they sob over his grave.

“Okay,” I respond, watching her as she turns to leave, fully expecting that she will break down when she gets to the safety of the car. When I turn back around, I see that the Mayor and Dash have wrapped up their conversation, and I try to stop Dash to talk before he leaves. “Dash, wait.” I step towards him, but he doesn’t even look at me, his eyes no longer empty as they were before. “Dash...” He continues his march as he passes by me, narrowly missing the opportunity to shoulder check me like he always does. Dejected, I turn back towards my parents with a frustrated sigh, watching from afar as they talk with Montez. When they return to my side, we all walk in silence back towards the car. I slip into the back seat next to Jazz, whose eyes are rimmed red and her sleeves covered in tear stains, but I don’t say a word as we drive solemnly back towards the house.

The next day, I wake up early to help make breakfast, whipping up some blueberry pancakes for the family, when Jazz descends the stairs and wanders into the kitchen, chasing the smell of my cooking. “You’re up?” She asks.

“Yeah,” I reply. “I woke up an hour ago and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to help mom and dad.” Jazz comes up and rubs my head, while snagging a handful of blueberries.

“You’re a good kid.”

“Alright, that’s it,” I say. “Now you don’t get any blueberries in yours.”

“Wait, no I’m sorry!” She cries, tossing the uneaten berries back into the carton. “I won’t steal anymore! I promise.”

“Fine,” I tell her, sprinkling a small handful into her pancake.

“More than that!”

“Stop back-seat-cooking!” While we bicker, mom and dad enter the kitchen with tired expressions on their faces, my father sitting down at the table while my mother comes up to hug us.

“Look at my two wonderful children!” She squeezes us tightly in her arms, gripping my shoulder so forcefully that it might leave a bruise. “You are so responsible Danny. Thank you for making breakfast for us.”

“Of course,” I say, flipping the pancake over in pan before adding it to the plateful of them, then taking them over to the table, while Jazz brings the whipped cream and chocolate sauce. The four of us grab at the toppings lain out on the table and scarf down our pancakes, almost contented, if not for the deep void within our hearts. After we finish eating, Jazz goes to grab the plates but mom stops her.

“Wait,” she says, her voice serious. “The memorial service... it’s today. The mayor asked us if we would give a speech, so we’ll be going, but you two don’t have to.”

“No we’ll go,” Jazz says for the both of us, speaking my mind without hesitation.

“You kids shouldn’t be forced to go,” Dad says, holding back his sobs.

“I think it would be nice to see them commemorate Jason,” I pipe in, unintentionally setting the somber mood that would follow us for the rest of the morning.

“Okay.” Mom rests her hand on my own, giving me a nod of approval before helping Jazz clean up the dishes. We all depart from the kitchen, going our separate ways throughout the house to get ready for the service. After an excruciatingly long car ride due to traffic, we make it to the memorial site, where we are ushered into a tent next to the unveiling site. I look around for Dash, wondering if he is going to speak during the ceremony, but don’t see him anywhere. After a few minutes, we hear the mayor cue my parents up to the stage and they leave Jazz and I in the tent to watch.

“Firstly,” mom starts. “Thank you for being here with us today to mourn the loss of our dear friend and protector, Jason Baxter. But we are also here for another reason, to celebrate his life and his legacy. This isn’t easy for any of us, as we all loved and cherished Jason for the wonderful man that he was. I can remember the day that Jack and I met Jason. We were such huge fans of him, and he came by our home to commission some equipment from us, a ghost particle disintegrator, but when he used it the first time inside, it blasted a hole right through our bedroom wall.” The crowd lets out an amused chuckle. “He begged us to let him pay us back but we refused. After that, he came by almost every day for new equipment. Eventually, we became partners in the ghost hunting game.” She paused a moment, tears welling in her eyes. “He was a wonderful ghost hunter, well deserving of the name Ghost Slayer, but... to me, he was just a friend.” She pauses again, tears streaming down her cheeks. When dad goes to comfort her, he starts crying to, then the crowd below them breaks into sobs as well. Beside me, Jazz turns away, walking towards the other side of the tent to get some water.

“Fenton,” Dash’s voice is unmistakable when he calls out to me. I turn around to see him dressed in his father’s old leather flight jacket with his Ghost Hunting symbol on it, reminding me of the keychain Dash left on Jason’s grave.

“Dash, what are you—”

“You’re in the way Fenton.” He pushes past me towards the stage, where mom and dad have recollected themselves to the best of their abilities.

“But now that Jason is gone, we need to look towards the future,” she says, turning to look at Dash as he steps up on the stage. “That is why we would like to give the stage away to Jason’s son, Dash.” The crowd claps courteously as Dash takes the mic from mom with a smile.

“Hello everyone,” he greets the crowd, his distress from the previous day vanished completely. “Loosing my father has been incredibly rough for me. I’m honestly surprised that I made it out here today. And I don’t know if I will ever fully heal. I’m sure all of you feel the same way. When you loose someone that you love, it leaves an emptiness in you that nothing can truly replace. But we can’t dwell on the past if we want to move forward, no matter how hard that might be. And even if it doesn’t seem that way, Jason Baxter will be with all of us so long as we remember him.” There seems to be more that he is supposed to say, but he doesn’t finish.

“With that said...” Mayor Montez rushes up and takes the microphone from Dash, who steps to the side of the stage, close enough for me to notice how tightly his jaw is clenched. “The unveiling of the memorial!” Montez turns back towards the giant statue, and as the curtain falls away, it reveals a shiny, gold statue depicting Jason shooting a ghost into oblivion. While the crowd cheers, I glance over at Dash, who stares up at the statue with furrowed brows.

After the crowd dies down, Montez takes to the microphone again, “It’s beautiful, right? Beautiful.” He lets the crowd cheer some more. “I know that we are all saddened by our loss. I also know that as we look into the future, we can’t help but wonder what will happen to our fair city now.” I look over at Dash, who can’t even stand to face Montez because of how angry he is.

_Oh no. ___

____

____

“Who will protect us?”

_You’ve got to be kidding me. ___

____

____

“Who will take up the mantle of Ghost Slayer?”

_Goddamnit, he’s serious. ___

____

____

“That paragon of heroism is here with us ladies and gentlemen,” Montez pauses. “Our second generation Ghost Slayer, Dash Baxter!” The crowd let’s out a roar of applause while Dash tries and fails to look excited.

_Dear god, he’s fucked. ___


	2. Checking In

Back at home, we all settle in to the living room, an uncomfortable tension in the air. “Did you guys know that Mayor Montez was gonna do that?” My parents don’t answer me. “Did you even ask Dash what he thought about it?”

“The mayor said that he agreed to train as a ghost hunter so that he could take his father’s role as Ghost Slayer,” Mom explains. “That reminds me, we have to tell you guys something—” My phone rings, interrupting the conversation. When I check the caller id, I see that it’s Sam’s number.

“I should take this,” I say.

“But honey,” Mom starts, but Dad stops her.

“Let him talk to his friends honey,” he says. “We can tell him later.” I nod a thanks to him before turning and heading up to my room.

“Hey Sam,” I say as I pick up the phone.

“Danny!” Her voice rings out on the other end of the line.

“Hey Danny,” Tucker’s more calm and subdued voice calls out to me as well.

“You’re both there?”

“Of course we are!” Sam shouts, trying to comfort me. “How are you doing?”

“Yeah, we watched the ceremony on tv...” Tucker sounds apprehensive as he says this.

“Yeah, that was...” I try to find the right words. “A mess, really. I can’t believe that they would make Dash take up ghost hunting just so that he could take Jason’s place.”

“I can’t believe that they would make Dash of all people have any sort of responsibility,” Tucker snarks. “The only thing he is responsible for is maintaining his popularity.”

“And all he has to do to do that is beat you up in the halls, Danny,” Sam adds.

“That’s true,” I sigh, letting a moment of silence pass over us. “Is there something wrong with me?”

“What? Why?” Sam asks.

“It’s just...” I pause, unsure. “I just don’t understand why I don’t feel anything. I’m supposed to be sad, or angry, or hurt, but I just feel... fine.”

“That’s not weird Danny,” Sam explains. “Some people handle grief differently. And considering how distraught the people are around you, it isn’t surprising that you might feel the need to be strong for everyone else’s sake.”

“Just make sure that you don’t cover it up when you do feel something, okay?” Tucker sounds concerned, for good reason. I’ve always had the tendency to bottle up my feelings.

“Have you talked with Dash yet?” Sam asks, breaking the silence.

“No,” I groan. “He doesn’t want to talk to me. Of course he doesn’t. But I guess I’m just wondering what he’s gonna do now. Where he’s gonna go, how he’s gonna train to be a ghost hunter, you know.”

“Yeah.” The conversation dies with Sam’s words and I suddenly realize how tired I am as I release a yawn.

“We should let you go,” Tucker says.

“See you tomorrow Danny,” Sam says and ends the call. Tomorrow we have school again. I haven’t thought much about the future since these events took place, but I can’t help but wonder what things are going to be like now.

That night, the time I spend sleeping blows by in a breeze, and when I wake I still don’t feel rested. I manage to pull myself out of bed after the fifth time pressing snooze, then patter around the room getting dressed for the day, trying to avoid looking at my reflection as much as possible, until I make my way into the bathroom with its wall of mirrors forcing me to stare at myself. Putting aside the fact that I have messy hair and eyebags, I just look pale and sickly, something that I hope will go away as I start my day. I take my things down stairs, meeting up with my mother and father who are sitting in the living room.

“Hey honey,” Mom calls to me. “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine,” I lie. “Sam said she’s gonna meet me early to walk to school. She has to return a book to the library.”

“Before you go,” mom stops me. “We need to talk to you about the ceremony.”

“Can we please talk about this later?” I snap. “I’m not in the mood to talk about that right now, okay?”

“Danny this is important,” Dad steps in, his frustration apparent on his face, yet I don’t care. My phone pings with a text from Sam, telling me that she’s in front of my house.

“I have to go.”

“Don’t you walk out that door Daniel!” Mom yells.

“Danny get back here!” Dad tries to catch me before I race out the door, but I’m too fast and I make it down the steps to Sam before he can even get to the door.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey.” She looks me over with suspicious eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“This has all just been a lot,” I sigh, combing my hand through my hair. “Plus my parents are trying to psycho-analyze me about Jason and... it’s just exhausting.”

“I get it,” she says, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t need to tell your parents everything, but if you are feeling something, you should talk to someone. If you wanna talk, me and Tucker are here for you.”

“Thanks Sam.” I smile at her as we walk. I didn’t tell my parents the real reason why we came to school early, but as we get closer to our destination, I can’t help but wonder if our plan to avoid Dash will work. “You think that he’ll even be here today?”

“Amity Park’s new hope?” She asks sarcastically. “No doubt. I just wish that everyone else knew what he was really like. Everyone thinks that he’s some sort of saint just because the Ghost Slayer was his father. It pisses me off, especially with how much he attacks you, Danny.”

“I can’t help but feel bad for him,” I tell her, resulting in an appalled expression on her end. “He just lost his father and now the whole town is expecting him to be some sort of... hero. I don’t know, I just can’t help but think that it’s too much responsibility for someone who’s still a kid.”

“You’re just projecting your feelings for his father onto him,” she corrects. “I do agree that it’s a lot of responsibility, but why else would you care aside from the fact that you loved his father. He was like an uncle to you, but Dash... the only thing he is to you is a bully.” Her words are all true, but it doesn’t keep me from feeling worried for him.

_Why am I even thinking about him right now? ___

____

____

“You’ve always cared so much about people, Danny,” Sam says, averting her eyes. “Sometimes too much. Sometimes when all that will get you is pain. It’s what I... it’s your fatal flaw.”

“Your talking about me like I’m some Greek God,” I laugh, elbowing her in the arm. She glances back up at me with reddened cheeks, felling a bit bashful from all the emotional talk, I assume. “Alright, enough with the sappy talk. How was that book you were reading?”

We make it to the school in no time, quickly passing through the gates, lucky to avoid seeing Dash or any of his friends. “We made it,” Sam whispers. Once we get inside, we make it to my locker, hoping to grab my books and rush to our home room class before Dash gets here.

“So why didn’t Tucker come with you?” I ask, trying to avoid the conversation. “I mean, he is your boyfriend after all.”

“He is not!”

“I can only imagine how jealous he is to see the love of his life hanging out alone with another man,” I tease.

“He doesn’t even like me!” She shouts. “And I don’t even like him!”

“Miss Manson!” Sam whips around to see Principal Ishiyama, who stalks towards us. My blood runs cold as I see Dash following behind her, not breaking eye contact as he glares at me. “You should know better than to raise your voice so loud in the halls, especially this early before classes begin.”

“I-I’m sorry ma’am,” Sam looks back at me after noticing Dash, her eyes filled with guilt. “It won’t happen again.”

“Good,” the principal says with a firm nod before turning back to Dash. “I will check in with you again tomorrow to see how you are acclimating. The mayor wants me to report on your training status as well, but we can discuss that at a later date.”

“Thank you Principal Ishiyama,” Dash says dismissively, turning back to me as soon as he finishes speaking. Ishiyama turns away slowly, not bothering to intervene, instead stalking off to yell at some students down the hall.

“Uh, hey Dash,” I try to break the tension.

“Don’t ‘hey Dash’ me, you prick.” Without another word he picks me up by the front of my shirt and slams me into my locker, knocking the wind out of me. “It was your idea wasn’t it?” He bellows.

“Dash!” Sam grabs at his arm, trying to rip him off of me, while I struggle against him, pushing at his face to get him away from me. By this point, the few students who are in the halls have gathered around to watch, none of them trying to stop anything, likely assuming that I provoked him. “Let him go! Dash, put him down!” Sam punches at Dash’s arms, but he stands undisturbed.

“You little shit!” He leans in closer to my face, and despite his position of superiority, I don’t break eye contact with him. Finally, he drops me, leaving me on the floor for Sam to tend to. I breathe deeply and fall into a coughing fit from being choked, but don’t shy away from Dash’s gaze. “I’ll settle this with you later.”

“Is that a threat?” Sam asks from where she kneels beside me. He doesn’t respond, instead just marching off down the halls with a deathly scowl on his face. “Danny, are you okay?” She cups my face in her hands, wiping my tears away.

“Yeah,” I pant, turning back to stare at Dash as he marches away. “What the hell did I do this time?”


	3. New Housemate

I end up skipping my last class in order to head home early so that I can avoid Dash, hoping that if I run away he won’t try to track me down to “settle things later.” Once I get home, I head right up to my room and flop on the bed, staring up at the glow-in-the dark stars still firmly planted on my ceiling from my childhood, which manages to settle my nerves a bit, though my mind can’t help but run ramped.

“What did I even do to him?” I ask no one in particular. “He can’t just choke people out just because they piss him off. It doesn’t matter that he’s the town hero now. And why does he even get that title, huh? He hasn’t even done anything heroic!” I grab the pillow behind my head, press it to my face, and scream out in frustration. “Damn it!” After I’ve calmed down, I pull the pillow from my face and squeeze it at my chest.

“I’m so damn tired,” I sigh. I’ve hardly even closed my eyes before I’m out like a light, having the most restful sleep I’ve had in a while, only waking up at the sound of the front door closing heavily, signaling that my dad is probably home. I stand up, dreading the fact that I need to face him after this morning, and head down stairs, where I hear voices coming from the kitchen. _Who did dad bring home with him? ___

__“Hey dad I’m back,” I call out as I walk down the hallway. “What was it you wanted to talk to me about this morning?” I ask as I turn into the kitchen, stopping dead in my tracks when I see _him _standing in the kitchen with my father, who’s bent over with his head stuffed in the fridge. “What the fuck?”___ _

____“Fenton,” Dash’s voice is much softer than it is when we’re at school, likely because he doesn’t want to break my father’s facade about what our relationship is like._ _ _ _

____“Oh, Dash you’re here!” A voice startles me from behind. My mom walks past me with my sister in tow. “It’s been so long since you’ve been over. We used to have dinners together all the time when you were younger.”_ _ _ _

____“It’s the same as always, Mrs. Fenton,” Dash affirms. “I remember spending Saturday nights in this kitchen.”_ _ _ _

____“Why’d we stop doing that, mom?” Jazz butts in, clearly to spite me._ _ _ _

____“Well you kids went and grew up,” she responds. “You three would always be hanging out with your friends and we would stay out late fighting ghosts...” I see Dash bristle at the mention, but he scowls at me when he notices that I’m watching him._ _ _ _

____“We should go back to doing that,” Dad adds in._ _ _ _

____“H-hold on!” I shout from the doorway, watching my family huddle around Dash like he’s a celebrity. “Can I talk to you three for a minute?” I point at my parents and Jazz, who follow me out into the living room. “What is going on?”_ _ _ _

____“This is what we were trying to tell you Danny,” mom scolds._ _ _ _

____“You ran out before we could get a word in,” dad supports._ _ _ _

____“Yeah,” Jazz echoes, earning her a glare from me._ _ _ _

____“You said you wanted to talk about the ceremony!” I raise my voice. “I just thought that you wanted to talk about my mental health or something!”_ _ _ _

____“Well it was about the ceremony,” mom responds, her voice level and undisturbed. “Mr. Montez asked us if we wanted to take care of Dash while training him to take his father’s place and we agreed.”_ _ _ _

____“Why not tell us after the funeral then?” I ask, my frustrations boiling over. “Or at the very least, just tell me, ‘hey Danny, Dash is gonna be living with us while he completes his training.’ It doesn’t need some grand speech!” I find myself shouting and bring my voice down. “You didn’t even ask if I was okay with this.”_ _ _ _

____“Well you two are friends,” dad says. “We assumed that you would want to help him out.”_ _ _ _

____“That’s...” I clench my fist in anger, not wanting to disrupt the image that my parents have of us. “We aren’t super close or anything. It just makes me feel a bit uncomfortable that he’s gonna be living here.”_ _ _ _

____“Well if that’s the case then we can talk to Montez about putting him in a foster home.” My blood runs cold at my mother’s words, realizing that I am the only thing that is keeping Dash from being abandoned to the system. “He would still be training with us, though.”_ _ _ _

____“I...” I take a deep breath, trying to settle my frustrations. “Fine, he can stay.” I say, turning my back to the group and marching towards the basement staircase, wanting to ignore my problems with some video games._ _ _ _

____I head downstairs into my parent’s laboratory, which is a cluttered mess, in search of the game console that my dad took. As I search amongst the piles of trash, tools, and other oddities that occupy the tables and floors, I find the console tucked away under a plastic box of hazmat suits. Curious, I meddle around inside the container, looking to see if they have a suit for me, and find one with my name stitched onto the inside of the collar, a sentiment that makes me chuckle a bit. As I run my fingers over the careful stitching, I wonder if I overreacted, but then I remember that Dash tried to choke me out this morning and my frustration bubbles over once again. I toss the suit onto a pile of clutter on the table and pick up the console, moving over towards the giant game station that my dad made for us to play on, setting the device up and turning on my favorite game. Once I log onto Doomed, I connect with Tucker online and a video feed pops up in the corner of the game. “Tuck, is Sam there?” I ask before he has a chance to start the game._ _ _ _

____“Yeah, Danny, what’s up?” Sam’s head pops into view on the screen._ _ _ _

____“You’ll never guess what happened,” I begin, feeling so overwhelmed that I want to cry. “Dash just moved into my house!”_ _ _ _

____“What?!” They yell simultaneously, their faces registering both horror and confusion at once._ _ _ _

____“Apparently Mayor Montez asked my parents to train him to become the next Ghost Slayer,” I elaborate. “So they just put him up in our house for convenience, I guess.”_ _ _ _

____“Oh my god,” Sam mumbles. “That must be why he attacked you in the halls today! He must’ve been pissed about having to live with you!” I groan at her reminder._ _ _ _

____“Is he there right now?” Tucker questions._ _ _ _

____“Not in the room,” I reply. “He’s upstairs with my parents and Jazz... I just can’t believe how unlucky I am!” I scream out, slapping my hands over my face and curling into a ball in my seat. “This isn’t fair! I can’t even tell them about Dash today!”_ _ _ _

____“Why not?” he asks._ _ _ _

____“Because if he tells them then their perception of their partner’s son, and in turn their partner, will be ruined,” Sam explains._ _ _ _

____“Ugh...” I feel like crying._ _ _ _

____“Can we do anything?” she asks with concern._ _ _ _

____“No...” I finish wallowing, settling to ignore my problems with mindless video gaming. “Let’s just try to beat this level.” I pick up my controller and begin playing a round, not waiting for the two of them to catch up. Eventually, I start to feel better, the frustrations from the day melting away as I mess around with my friends, and the conversation shifts towards more normal things._ _ _ _

____“Hey, Danny,” Sam grabs my attention. “I’ve been meaning to ask, what is that thing behind you?”_ _ _ _

____“Ah, no Sam,” I laugh. “I’m not falling for it. I’m not that gullible.”_ _ _ _

____“No really,” she starts, hardly looking up from the monitor._ _ _ _

____“I see it too,” Tucker says, leaning in towards the screen to investigate my background, after getting taken out of the game by Sam. “It’s this big, hole in your wall. With like, wires hanging out of it and stuff. It looks like one of the portals from Doomed.” I eventually succumb to the prodding and whip my head around, only to hear a loud Game Over signal from the game._ _ _ _

____“Agh!” I shout. “Sam! You were just trying to trick me!”_ _ _ _

____“No but there really is something behind you.” She says, sporting a cocky grin on her face that makes me roll my eyes. I turn back around again, looking at the portal that I managed to miss when coming down here for the first time (though in fairness the room is pretty congested). The device looks familiar to me as I stare at it, the dark, empty hole in the wall that I remember my parents talking about a few weeks ago._ _ _ _

____“Oh, that’s just my parents newest experiment,” I sigh, turning back to face them. “They say that it’s supposed to be a Ghost Portal.”_ _ _ _

____“Ghost Portal?” Sam giggles._ _ _ _

____“You mean that theoretically, right?” Tucker quizzes. “Cause the idea of an inter dimensional portal between us and the ghost realm is... well how would you even go about making that?”_ _ _ _

____“They said that they were using the ectoplasm and stuff from the ghosts that they’ve captured,” I explain. “I don’t know how it’s supposed to work but I guess they’ve been trying a lot of things on this for the past few months. It still doesn’t work, though.”_ _ _ _

____“So how have you not noticed it until now?” she snarks._ _ _ _

____“It’s not like I come down here ever! I just wanted to get away from Dash and I knew that this would be the last place on earth that he’d go.” My explanation seems to satisfy them._ _ _ _

____“So what are they planning on doing with it exactly?” Tucker investigates._ _ _ _

____“I don’t know,” I say, turning back towards the device._ _ _ _

____“Hey,” Sam breaks the silence. “I dare you to touch it.”_ _ _ _

____“No way!” I refuse._ _ _ _

____“Oh, you’re just scared.”_ _ _ _

____“Sam, that portal is infected with ghost ectoplasm and probably a million other nasty things,” Tucker chastises her. “He could get possessed, and that’s the best outcome of that scenario.” The room goes silent for a minute._ _ _ _

____“Still scared,” Sam eggs me on._ _ _ _

____“You know what?” I stand defiantly. “I’m gonna touch it, not because you want me to, but because I want me to.”_ _ _ _

____“Sure...” she rolls her eyes, but I ignore her._ _ _ _

____I step forward towards the portal, hesitating a moment. “You’re not really gonna touch that are you, Danny?” Tucker asks, though I don’t respond, my fear still holding me back. Suddenly, I remember the jumpsuit that my mom made for me and quickly rush towards the table in that I left it on, pulling the suit on over my clothes and zipping it up, hoping that the gloves will at least protect me a little bit. I hop back into view of the monitor, placing my hands on my hips in a confident stance._ _ _ _

____“How do I look?” I ask, a broad smile on my face._ _ _ _

____“Like your father,” Tucker jokes as Sam scrunches up her face in disgust._ _ _ _

____“Ouch.” I put my hand on my chest dramatically, making them laugh. “Well it’s not for fashion it’s for protection. I probably should’ve put one on the minute I got in here if I’m honest.”_ _ _ _

____“Boo...” Sam teases. “Are you gonna go or what?”_ _ _ _

____“Okay, okay, I’m going in.” I take a deep breath to psych myself up as I leap over the pile of scrap metal and other garbage that my parents should definitely clean up at some point, arriving in front of the portal. I look into it’s depths, unable to resist its pull._ _ _ _

____“D... nny,” I hear only static behind me as I continue forward, compelled by some invisible force to touch the device. “Da... d... ny!” I can’t make out what they are saying, but don’t bother turning around to figure it out. Instead, I reach my hand forward towards the metal bolted strip along the exterior and touch it quickly with my index finger. Nothing happens._ _ _ _

____“See?” I shout to them behind me. “No problem! I’m not scared!” Feeling extra confident, I take a step into the machine._ _ _ _

____“St... Da... on’t!” I can hardly hear their voices as they scream at me, my mind running blank of all things except for the portal. Walking inside, I look around at all of the strewn apart pieces and unfinished buttons, trying to figure out what they all are. As I continue deeper into the machine, my eyes are unable to adjust to the darkness and my foot catches on an exposed panel, sending me crashing to the floor._ _ _ _

____I groan loudly, the sound startling me, until I realize that it is not coming from me. The machine whirs to life, surrounding me in a bright green light, and I scramble to stand up, trying to escape from the blast radius, but the force of machine nails my feet in place, and all I can do is stand there, looking out at the lab, trying to find my friend’s faces on the screen across the room, which has gone silent, a static image cemented on the monitor. And I am helpless to do anything as the portal starts up with me inside. A pain surges through me, an electrical shock of an other worldly force, dragging an ear splitting scream out of my mouth, while the energy expands outwards, not being contained within the bounds of the device. Fear spreads through me as I realize that the portal’s energy might destroy the entire building, with my family inside, so I do everything that I can to harness the power within myself, making my body cry out in pain as I feel myself splitting apart. I feel a snap and suddenly, the sensation of white hot death overcomes me, making me collapse to the floor in agony, with no control over my own body. I lay on the floor, looking out at the beam of green light as it continues to escape the portal despite my best efforts, when a jolt of electricity surges through me and the last thing I feel is my limbs seizing beneath me before my consciousness fades completely, silencing my screams._ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to thank anyone and everyone for reading this, as it is my first fan work. It is going to be a series that I will continue writing as I have the time, so stick around if you want to read the rest! Again, thank you all so much for reading!


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